ALL OF "GRACE GEMS" FROM NOVEMBER 2003 IN ONE FILE
Temptation
(Joseph Philpot, "Daily Portions")
"The Lord knows how to deliver the godly
out of temptations." 2 Peter 2:9
Few will sincerely and spiritually go to the Lord,
and cry from their hearts to be delivered from the
power of a temptation, until it presses so weightily
upon their conscience, and lies so heavy a burden
upon their soul, that none but God can remove it.
But when we really feel the burden of a temptation;
when, though our flesh may love it, our spirit hates
it; when, though there may be in our carnal mind a
cleaving to it, our conscience bleeds under it, and
we are brought spiritually to loathe it and to loathe
ourselves for it; when we are enabled to go to the
Lord in real sincerity of soul and honesty of heart,
beseeching Him to deliver us from it; I believe, that
the Lord will, sooner or later, either remove that
temptation entirely in His providence or by His grace,
or so weaken its power that it shall cease to be what
it was before, drawing our feet into paths of darkness
and evil.
As long, however, as we are in that state of which
the prophet speaks, "Their heart is divided; now
shall they be found faulty" (Hosea 10:2); as long
as we are in that carnal, wavering mind, which James
describes, "A double minded man is unstable in all
his ways;" as long as we are hankering after the
temptation, casting longing, lingering side glances
after it, rolling it as a sweet morsel under our tongue;
and though conscience may testify against it, yet not
willing to have it taken away, there is . . .
no hearty cry,
nor sigh,
nor spiritual breathing of our soul,
that God would remove it from us.
But when we are brought, as in the presence of a heart
searching God, to hate the evil to which we are tempted;
and cry to Him that He would, for his honor and for our
soul's good, take the temptation away, or dull and
deaden its power; sooner or later the Lord will hear
the cry of those who groan to be delivered from those
temptations, which are so powerfully pressing them
down to the dust.
Idling life away like an idiot or a madman
(Joseph Philpot, "The Soul's Growth in Grace" 1837)
When one is spiritually reborn, he sees
at one and the same moment . . .
God and self,
justice and guilt,
power and helplessness,
a holy law and a broken commandment,
eternity and time,
the purity of the Creator, and
the filthiness of the creature.
And these things he sees, not merely as
declared in the Bible, but as revealed in
himself as personal realities, involving all
his happiness or all his misery in time and
in eternity. Thus it is with him as though
a new existence had been communicated,
and as if for the first time he had found
there was a God!
It is as though all his days he had been asleep,
and were now awakened; asleep upon the top of
a mast, with the raging waves beneath; as if all
his past life were a dream, and the dream were
now at an end. He has been . . .
hunting butterflies,
blowing soap bubbles,
angling for minnows,
picking daisies,
building houses of cards, and
idling life away like an idiot or a madman.
He had been perhaps wrapped up in a religious
profession, advanced even to the office of a deacon,
or mounted in a pulpit. He had learned to talk about
Christ, and election, and grace, and fill his mouth
with the language of Zion.
But what did he experimentally know of these
things? Nothing, absolutely nothing!
Ignorant of his own ignorance (of all kinds of
ignorance the worst), he thought himself rich,
and increased with goods, and to have need of
nothing; and knew not that he was wretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
My desire is . . .
(by Joseph Philpot)
My desire is . . .
to exalt the grace of God;
to proclaim salvation through Jesus Christ alone;
to declare the sinfulness, helplessness and
hopelessness of man in a state of nature;
to describe the living experience of the
children of God in their . . .
trials,
temptations,
sorrows,
consolations
and blessings.
This wily devil!
(Joseph Philpot, "Daily Words for Zion's Wayfarers")
What a foe to one's peace is one's own spirit!
What shall I call it? It is often an infernal spirit.
Why? Because it bears the mark of Satan upon it.
The pride of our spirit,
the presumption of our spirit,
the hypocrisy of our spirit,
the intense selfishness of our spirit,
are often hidden from us.
This wily devil, SELF, can wear such
masks and assume such forms!
This serpent, SELF, can so creep and crawl,
can so twist and turn, and can disguise itself
under such false appearances, that it is often
hidden from ourselves.
Who is the greatest enemy we have to fear? We all
have our enemies. But who is our greatest enemy?
He whom you carry in your own bosom; your daily,
hourly, and unmovable companion, who entwines
himself in nearly every thought of your heart; who . . .
sometimes puffs up with pride,
sometimes inflames with lust,
sometimes inflates with presumption, and
sometimes works under pretend humility and fleshly holiness.
God is determined to stain the pride of human glory.
He will never let SELF, (which is but another word for
the creature,) wear the crown of victory. It must be
crucified, denied, and mortified.
To bathe in the ocean of endless bliss!
(Joseph Philpot, "Daily Words for Zion's Wayfarers")
"Blessed are those whose strength is in You,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baca, ("weeping")
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength,
until each appears before God in Zion."
Psalm 84:5-7
Every living soul that has been experimentally taught
his lost condition; that has known something of a resting
place in Christ; that has turned his back upon both the
world and the professing church; and gone weeping
Zionward, that he may . . .
live in Jesus
feel His power,
taste His love,
know His blood,
rejoice in His grace;
every such soul shall, like Israel of old, be borne safely
through this waste howling wilderness; shall be carried
through this valley of tears; and taken to enjoy eternal
bliss and glory in the presence of Jesus, to bathe in the
ocean of endless bliss!
Where shall we hide our blushing face?
(Octavius Winslow)
There is much indeed in ourselves of which we
have reason truly to be ashamed, and to be filled
with profound self abhorrence. We have need to
be ashamed . . .
of our unbelief;
of our low thoughts of the Savior;
of our little love to God;
of our slow advance in the divine life;
of our imperfect conformity to Christ;
of the power of indwelling sin;
of our slender spiritual attainments in . . .
knowledge,
personal holiness, and
heavenly meekness.
What shamefacedness should cover us,
that we are so ready . . .
to compromise,
to falter, and
to halt.
How deeply humbled should we be that there
still exists in us so much carnality, love of the
world, and conformity to the world; so little of
the crucified spirit of a cross bearing Savior!
What cause of shame that, with all our profession,
the pulse of spiritual life beats in our souls so faintly,
the spirit of prayer breathes in us so feebly, that we
possess so little real, vital religion, and follow Christ
at so great a distance.
Filled with self abasement should we be, that the
fruits and graces of the Spirit are in us so sickly,
drooping, and dwarfed; that we have so limited
a measure of faith, love, and humility; are so
defective in our patience and meekness, wisdom,
and gentleness; that, with all our blossom and
foliage, there is so little real fruit to the glory
of our Father.
May we not, in view of all this, exclaim with Ezra,
in his deep grief and humiliation for the sins of the
people, "O my God, I am utterly ashamed; I blush
to lift up my face to You. For our sins are piled
higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached
to the heavens." Ezra 9:6.
Oh, where shall we fly; where shall we hide